Bike-powered treehouse elevator is the world’s coolest way to climb a tree

Ethan Schlussler lives in Sandpoint, Idaho, which is about an hour’s drive from the Canadian border and a five-hour drive from Seattle — the sort of place where you end up with time to pursue whatever awesome idea floats into your head. Accordingly, Schlussler was building a treehouse. He got tired of climbing up and down the 28 feet from his project to the ground. And so he built this:

Of course it’s not “safe”, but neither is walking across the street. That said, almost every part of the system is many times stronger than necessary, and there is no single part that would make it free fall if it broke. And even if it did fall, I would most likely survive; it’s only 28 feet (at most).

No one seems to have asked Schlussler why he’s building an awesome treehouse to begin with. But it seems like this dude just likes to build awesome small spaces. Like, for instance, this snow cave:

As an aside, Northern Idaho looks beautiful. Maybe Schlussler will build us a treehouse to move into?